


And So it Begins Again

by serendipityxxi



Category: Legend of the Seeker
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-07-29
Updated: 2011-07-29
Packaged: 2017-10-30 11:54:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,540
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/331487
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/serendipityxxi/pseuds/serendipityxxi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Legendland Prompt: RKC's weapons have been stolen by an unknown person, they have to go on a treasure hunt and solve the clues to get the new location of their weapons. This was actually a challenge where we followed the clues and discovered the location of their weapons.</p>
            </blockquote>





	And So it Begins Again

Title: And So it Begins Again  
Author: Serendipityxxi  
Rating: PG  
Summary: Legendland Prompt: RKC's weapons have been stolen by an unknown person, they have to go on a treasure hunt and solve the clues to get the new location of their weapons. This was actually a challenge where we followed the clues and discovered the location of their weapons.  
Pairings: RK  
Disclaimer: Not mine. No Money. Don't Sue  
Word Count: 2469

The morning they're due to leave Kahlan packs her bag. "Travelling light, again," she jokes with Richard and he flashes her that same old grin. They kiss their daughter goodbye, leaving her tucked in her aunt Dennee's capable arms. Dennee gives her sister a look before they hug farewell, _one that says next time you'll be the one stuck at home with the children while I go off on the quest._ Kahlan smiles and nods briefly. She doesn't want to leave her baby, the daughter she doubted she'd ever have, her sweet girl with Richard's smile and her grandmother's eyes, but the call of adventure is hard to resist.

Cara rages about the indignity of having their weapons stolen, warns them all this is likely a trap, complains mightily about being lead around by the nose for some idiot's entertainment like one of the Wizard's puppets. She doesn't fool Richard or Kahlan though, the wanderlust is in her eyes and the spring in her step betrays her enthusiasm for a new quest after all this time of rebuilding.

"Well, it's not like we can just replace the Sword of Truth," Richard argues with Cara for the sake of keeping up appearances.

Cara huffs and grumbles and Richard crunches an apple from his pack.

It wouldn't be a quest without apples.

As soon as they are away from Aydindril and into the woods Richard's shoulders loosen. His steps are almost as light as the woods guide Kahlan met all those years ago. The cares of leading are forgotten, out here among only equals Richard can relax.

Out here it's not the Seeker, the Mother Confessor and the Mord Sith. Out here it's just Richard and Kahlan and Cara on a quest again, like the good old days.

Danger finds them in the thick dark forests near the People's Palace. Jennsen has been running the D'haran end of things so smoothly in the last year that they'd let their guard down believing themselves safe. The downside to just being Richard and Kahlan and Cara in the woods is the band of robbers that comes upon them thinking they are simply three travellers. They attack not in the middle of the night as sensible thieves might, but just as dusk is falling and the campfire’s grey smoke can still be seen twisting into the deepening violet sky. They come out of the trees and Richard has his staff in his hands already, looking menacing in the half light. Cara has an arrow knocked in her bow and has fired on an oncoming thug before they even clear the brush. Kahlan fights with double daggers as always, a borrowed pair, but her fingers find the new grips and she picks up her battle rhythm again smoothly.

The three move in practiced motions, like the steps of a dance, twist and duck and trade opponents. They strike down their enemies and move camp. Cara is furious the robbers got so close but the flush of battle is high on her cheeks. Kahlan's heart is beating double time with the excitement and fear and though she is sad to see more people dead, she is glad to be alive and she hopes Cara will understand if she and Richard take a walk tonight. She thinks of all the nights when she'd wanted nothing more than to hold Richard after a close call and let him help her forget to be afraid. Richard is panting but he can’t help feeling exhilarated after the fight - he was not the protected leader in the centre of a ring of fighters tonight, he was an equal fighter, all three of them working together.

They arrive at the People’s Palace and search the gardens in hopes of finding a pair of agiels, a pair of daggers and a sword. Instead they find another clue that’s disturbing in how well the person setting this quest must know them. The clue directs them to Tamarang.

The road to Tamarang is in turns dusty and then green, mostly without excitement. Kahlan re-discovers how uncomfortable sleeping on the ground can be, even if she's curled up alongside her Seeker now. Richard smells after a day in the woods and they don't always find a place to wash before bedding down. Cara finds that marching in her leathers is just as unpleasant as she remembers and trades in secret for a pair of thick socks in the first village they come across. Richard rediscovers the annoyances of bugs, bugs everywhere, in his face, in his boots, on his food if he doesn’t eat fast enough. No blood flies though and he’s at least thankful for that.

Tamarang is thriving under Chase’s steady hand as Princess Rachel’s advisor. His old friend greets them with glee. Richard is glad to see that Chase is as prepared to run a country as he is, but he has to admit the ex-boundary warden is doing a fantastic job and Rachel is growing into a wonderful girl. Renn has been taken under Chase’s wing as well and the boy is growing like a weed in Tamarang. Richard teaches Renn about sparring before they leave and the boy surprises him with how much he’s learned already. Although it really shouldn’t surprise Richard as Chase was his own teacher in Hartland.

They follow the tumbling Cassidrin River from Tamarang to the coast and then make their way down to the boundary, choosing the circuitous route to avoid Agaden Reach and Shota. “It’s probably that old witch’s fault we’re on this wild goose chase anyway,” Cara voices with annoyance. Nights are hot and days are hotter and even the dull roar of the surf is not enough to lull them to sleep some nights. Richard’s hands sweep Kahlan’s hair off her neck and knot it into a loose bun while they sit around the fire. He loves the way the firelight brings out threads of burnished gold and copper in her dark hair. He blows cool air across the nape of her neck, raising goosebumps on her arms and Kahlan loses the thread of their conversation. He can’t help the smirk and forgets all about the heat when Kahlan turns in his arms and kisses him breathless.

Cara makes an annoyed sound in her throat.

“I never thought I’d long for the company of the wizard, but even he would be preferable to you two!” she grumbles.

Richard breaks from Kahlan and smiles at Cara who rolls her eyes in return.  
They pass through the boundary with the night stone and even Cara appears affected by the eerie green light and the voices of the Spirit People calling out to them. Two days later Kahlan finds a small red flower in the ashes of their campfire. She says nothing but that night she fights Cara extra hard for first watch and when the Mord Sith lays down there’s a bruise on her cheekbone but her eyes close with tiredness and she does not dream. She recognizes the gesture even if she cannot acknowledge it.

They avoid fights in King’s Port but only because Cara has even less patience than usual and simply knocks out her opponents. They leave King’s Port at dawn in a hurry. The passage to Hartland is full of ghosts for Richard, the woods are grey and gloomy in the morning fog before it burns off midmorning. They visit Michael’s grave and Zedd’s old house where they collect the next clue. Richard tells them stories about learning these woods with his father and rainy afternoons spent playing chess and though he smiles through the stories his eyes are faraway and a little bit sad. There is no one left in Hartland to call home. Kahlan laces her fingers through his and squeezes his hand, her presence a reminder of the new family they have and their new home. He kisses her forehead and her nose and finally her lips.

He tries to stay unnoticed though he sees the changes the years and the boundary have wrought on his neighbours and friends. Anna and the D’Haran are still running the place though devotions to the Lord Rahl have stopped. Richard cannot begin to put into words how it made his skin crawl to see his friends giving homage to the man. Even though he is now the Lord Rahl he feels it would feel even more wrong and strange for the devotions to continue. He hopes his father would approve of the man he’s become, the choices he’s made. He vows to tell his daughter of her grandparents when he returns home to Aydindril so their memory will not be forgotten.

On the journey to Stowecroft they hear rumours again about Darken Rahl and Nicci. The same rumours that have been circulating since a month after they closed the tear in the veil. They know better than to discount the rumours but Richard is unwilling to go searching for his half-brother. So he files the information away for another time. The next clue is in Cara’s niece’s birthday cake when they arrive in Stowecroft. Her sister Grace tries to get them to stay the night but none of them is likely to forget the way the people of the village treated them.

They’d disrespected both the Seeker and the Mother Confessor during Cara’s trial and though emotions were high and tensions drawn thin that is not something that can be ignored given their positions.

Kahlan wakes in the night as they camp miles and miles away from Stowecroft, her heart trip hammering in her chest at the dream that she and Richard were murdered by the villagers, their daughter an orphan and once again the only Confessor left. Kahlan is sure that in that moment if they had Oloron’s Amulet with them she would have fled back to Aydindril immediately, just to hold her sweet baby and remind herself that all was not lost. She thinks of her childhood, at least she’d had Dennee. She remembers Grace and Cara that afternoon, so different and yet the family resemblance marking them as belonging to each other. She lets Richard soothe her back to sleep and asks him in the morning if he’d like to start trying for their second child soon. Richard gives her that slow wide grin that overtakes his whole face and agrees. She imagines him with a flock of little girls at his feet, telling stories on rainy afternoons just like his father had. It brings a smile to her face and chases away the remnants of the bad dream.

The clue in Stowecroft leads them to Brennidon and they barely walk in the front gates before they find yet another clue. Even Richard is frustrated by now. They run into trouble leaving Brennidon, the group of bandits has a Sister of the Dark with them. Cara hurls the woman’s magic back at her and then Mark’s patrol is coming to their aid. Sure they could take on thirteen opponents plus a magic user but sometimes it’s nice being the ones being rescued instead of doing the rescue. Mark has done a fine job in training the sons and daughters of Brennidon in defence. It’s a rough battle, but eventually the enemy is routed and carted off to sit in a prison cell in east Brennidon.

They begin the trek back to Aydindril following what they hope is the last clue. Cara is in a rage that the quest has taken them around in a circle.

“At least it didn’t take us through Rothburg,” Kahlan teases with a grin.

They are too near the falls of Aldermont not to camp near them. Richard and Kahlan are of course disgustingly sweet when the sun sets and the waters turn red. Cara fixes them with her nastiest smirk and asks Richard if he’s planning on taking Kahlan for “a walk,” the words drip with innuendo. Richard just smiles good naturedly at her and Kahlan’s mind goes back to the time Richard must have spent with her split self near here. She used to be jealous not to remember that time but now she has more than enough memories to make up for it.  
They arrive in Aydindril to find the entire city asleep. People are passed out in the road, on the walls surrounding the keep, propped up on fences, slumped against trees, it seems they went to sleep wherever they happened to be when the spell hit. And none of them has any doubt it was a spell.

Their weapons are waiting for them on a table in the entrance way. The three of them rush through the halls of the palace shouting for Zedd and Denee and “Oh Spirits Richard, what about our baby?” Kahlan whispers and for a moment the Mother Confessor is gone and only Kahlan remains, lost and frightened. Then Darken Rahl steps into the room, behind him is Nicci in a rad’a’han and leash. Kahlan’s daggers are in her hands before Richard can even think about drawing Sword of Truth.

“Where is my daughter?” she demands of Rahl who smiles that oily smile and gestures behind him. Zedd, Dennee and the baby enter the room. No one appears hurt but Kahlan is still almost twitching with rage. Richard can’t say he feels much different and Cara is spoiling for a fight with her newly returned agiels.

“You’ll have to excuse the methods that I employed but I had to be sure you hadn’t grown soft dear brother,” Rahl says stepping forward, his red robes swishing over the stone floors, his hands steepled together in front of him as always.

“What is going on here?” Richard snaps.

“The greatest threat that mankind has ever faced is upon us, Richard Cypher,” Nicci speaks up for the first time, her voice is a croak as if the rad’a’han is choking her though it sits loose upon her clearly visible clavicles.

“What’s that?” Cara drawls, “Your bed head or smudged eyeliner? Both are frightening,” she acknowledges.

“Something big enough that even I will admit that I cannot defeat it on my own,” Rahl snaps and that gets Richard’s attention.

“What’s going on?” he asks Zedd, stepping around Rahl with all the caution one would give a rabid wolf.

Zedd’s face is grim as Richard and Kahlan cradle their daughter between them. Cara keeps her agiels drawn and at the ready, positioning herself between the Rahl brothers.

“I’m afraid he’s serious, my boy,” Zedd begins. Richard feels his stomach clench with dread. Kahlan is astonished that she was ever glad to leave her home and go questing again. Cara feels a frisson of excitement, finally something real that would require some bloodshed and fighting, stuff she was good at.

~Fin


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